I support Compulsory Voting or CV. Most to every American is held responsible for paying taxes which then pay the bills of the United States. Well not all of them; the governments "credit card" bill never seems to get paid. But these bills and the national debt of the United States are directly influenced by the decisions of our elected Leadership. And those decisions effect all of the American people and beyond. Voting should be a civic duty that every eligible American voter is held responsible for doing in the same sense that we are held responsible for paying taxes. That's my opinion.

Now I'm not saying that I wouldn't admit to strategic and political possibilities for supporting CV. In my Democratic world I see Republicans as Superman. CV would then become their Kryponite; would it not? The historical platform of the Republican Party has not been populist in the era of unrestricted franchise and it can be argued that they have depended on a depressed voter turnout to win elections. On the other hand the historical platform of the Democratic Party has been all but populist and it has suffered with the reality of a depressed voter turnout. I believe that CV would have the effect to raise the levels of voter turnout in America. In my opinion the Republican Party would gain unremarkable to minimal additional support under CV and the Democratic Party would gain strong to overwhelming support. But I also feel that CV would then set the stage for legitimate third party efforts to be made. But the fundamental reason I support CV is because it should be our civic duty.

In most countries that have CV the level of voter participation has typically went up regardless of the sanctions for not voting. Exceptions to this would be countries like The Netherlands and Venezuela. Both countries saw voter participation depressed after CV was no longer required. But then you have cases like Italy. Sanctions for not voting in Italy are almost inconsequential. But Italian voter participation rates under CV have been higher then previous and are at or around 92% now of eligible voters. I believe that the case can be made that CV consistently elevates the levels of voter turnout. And I personally feel that's good. Voting and paying taxes should be held at the same level of civic duty.

There are numerous arguments against CV. Some Americans feel that CV would be a violation of 1^st Amendment rights. Well some Americans feel that paying taxes is a violation of their constitutional rights too. I feel that the 1^st Amendment argument is the most legitimate against CV in America. Their's also the issue that CV would bring in voters who are not smart or intellectual enough to asses the issues and such. For those that feel that way this is adopting the intellectual high ground under unfair terms. Perceived or real intellectual prowess has never been the standard for being President and it shouldn't be the standard to vote for President. But I also feel that these are just two arguments amongst many that are simply being used to maintain the status quo. The status quo I'm referring to would be , what I call , representation by the few or the not enough. I think you get my point. American elections have been historically won or loss with a minority of eligible voters showing up to the polls. I feel that those that argue against CV really want the current depressed voter reality and would never support any alternative to it anyway. On the other hand I'm not a fool either. I can see that the Democratic and the Republican parties would look at CV as a threat to the historical power they have enjoyed and would do anything to kill any CV effort.

The American people are suffering current consequences much because of the decisions of our elected Leadership. And all of the American taxpayers are paying for it. Compelling eligible Americans to vote in the same sense they are to compelled to pay taxes is not problematic in my way of thinking. I think that it should be the legally excepted standard. CV would make the people running for office have to pay attention to getting us to vote for them and not just getting the usual voter base out and asking for money to do it. And finally CV would mark our government as popularly elected and reflect the preferences of a majority of eligible American voters. That's it.